Henry o



(No Model.)

iH. 0. CANPIELD.

BUSTLE.

No. 375,924. l Patented Jan. 3, 1888.

A IIQI-VENTDR www UNITED STATES PATENT OEETGEa HENRY O. CANFIELD, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE CANFIELD RUBBER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BUSTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 375,924, dated January 3, 1888.

Application tiled Oetohcr 24, 1887. Serial No, 253,217. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY O. CANFIELD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Bustles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, suoli as will enable others lo skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention is adapted t'o the various styles of bustles of this general class, and has for its object to provide a returning-spring for use in connection therewith, which may be produced at very slight expense, may be readily attached to thebustle, will yield readily when it is desired to throw the hustle to its collapsed position, and which, above all, shall be durable and certain in use.

It has heretofore heen a serious objection to various folding bust-les that when pressed close up against the person of t-he wearer they were apt to become set,7 owing to the'fact that the springs were so arranged that the direct action thereof, and consequently the largerportion of their power, could not be utilized to return the bustle toits normal position, or else that the springs were liable to become weakened by use, so as to be unable to overcome the weight of the drapery. I wholly overcome this objection by combining with a bustle of any ordinary construction a novel returningspring, which I will now proceed to describe, referring by numbers to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure l is a central section of a bustle provided withv my improved spring, the bustle being in the normal-z'. e., distended--positiong Fig. 2, a central section showing the bustle in the collapsed position; and Fig. 3 is a detail sectional View on the line rc as in Fig. l.

l denotes the belt; 2, side pieces eyeleted thereto; 3, curved ribs, which are pivotally secured to the side pieces at the bottom, preferably by long eyelets 4 passing through said ribs and the side pieces, as described and claimed in my pending application, Serial 5o No. 252,592, filed October 19, 1887; 5, a connecting-strip Aeyeleted to the belt and to each of the ribs; 6, the usual adjustingcord, and? my novel returning-spring. rIhis spring consists of a series ot' coils, live to eight being ordinarily used, and attaching-arms (denoted by 8 and l0.) The series of coils in eachspring is adapted to lie longitudinally at one of the ends of the lower rib on the inner side thereof.

8 denotesa forwardlyext-ending arm, formed integral with the coils, whichlies along the in- 5o ner side of the bottom rib, and is secured thereto bysone or more metallic clips, 9, which embrace the arm rmly and extend around the edgesof the rib. Theothcrend of eachspriug is extended to form an arm, 10, which extends at a right angle to arm S and first passes through the eyelet 4t, by which the ribs are secured to the side piece, and is then bent upward at a right angle again and lies along the outer side of the side piece, to which it is 7c secured by clips 9 in the same manner as the other arm is secured to thelower rib, the clips embracing the arm rmly and then extending around the edges .of the side piece.

The important and valuable feature oi' my 75 invention lies in the novel arrangement and action of the springs, whereby I am enabled to secure the peculiar combination of strength and elasticity that is required in folding bustles, embodied, moreover, in a construc- So tion that does not become weakened by longlcontinued use, but will retain its strength to the last and will ontwear the bustle itselt'. rIhis result I accomplish not by winding or unwindingV the coils, as heretofore, but by a slight torsion ofV the wire of each coil. It will be noticed (see Fig. 2) that when the lower rib is moved from the distended to the collapsed position the lower edges of the coils are separated from. each other, while the upper edges 9c are pressed together. The lower edges of the coils, infact, open out from each other radially, like a fan, the upper edges forming a concave curve. The instant the pressure is relieved the resiliency of the metalovercomes the slight torsion in each of the coils and returns the arm secured to the lower rib to its normal position, thereby throwing all of the ribs and the drapery supported thereby to the distended position.

It will of course be understood that my novel xoo spring is adapted to theleadingstyles of folding bustles now upon the market, and consequently that the details of Construction may be Varied'consderably from thoseshown in the drawings without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim- 1. Abustle oonsistiugot' side pieces, n series of curved ribs pivot'ully secured thereto, and springs which consist of n series of eoilslying longitudinally of the lower rib and having forwardly-projeeting armsseeuredto thelower rib :ind other arms secured to the side pieces, whereby the eollapsing of the bustle causes torsion of each eoil, which nots to return the bustle to its normal position when pressure is removed.

2. The combination, with the side pieces of u bristle and :L series of curved ribs pivotnlly secured thereto, of springs at opposite sides of the bustle, each spring consisting of a series of coils lying longitudinally of the lower rilo, it forwardly-projecting arm secured to said lower rib, and an arm secured to the side piece, so that when the bustle is collapsed more or less torsion of each coil takes place, the upper edges of the coils being pressed together and the loweredges separated, the return of thel coils to their normal position, when pressure is removed, acting to throw the bustle to its distended position.

W In testimony whereof Iafx mysignuture in presence ot' two witnesses.

HENRY O. CANFIELD.

Writ nesses:

A. M. Woos'rnn, B. E. LEE. 

